Foofoo Posted July 14, 2005 do you draw level ideas up on paper? do you write like a 20 page outline of your story/idea? do you scrape level architecture out of mashed potato? whatwhatWHAT?? 0 Share this post Link to post
kristus Posted July 14, 2005 Whenever I've made wads, I've pretty much made it up as I went along, sometimes it came back to bite me in the ass though. 0 Share this post Link to post
Foofoo Posted July 14, 2005 same here. whatever i've made that was more or less good was made by sheer accident :S 0 Share this post Link to post
Dco16 Posted July 14, 2005 The levels in SQWIREL 1 were made on the fly, which was disasterous because of my lack of mapping skills at the time. Phobos Orbital - planned. New Nightmare - sorta planned on paper, but I put a bunch of the better areas in on the fly. Next Nightmare - Heavily heavily planned on paper, excluding the last parts. 0 Share this post Link to post
Foofoo Posted July 14, 2005 by 'planned on paper' how? you wrote ideas down? drew pictures of how you want certain rooms to look to the player? 0 Share this post Link to post
Use Posted July 14, 2005 Many old maps from megawad (1999 and before) were all done on paper. But I'm able to imagine an entire layout and keep most of the important parts/details retained for many, many moons. Kinda like a drawing but only in me noggin'. I have layouts that I planned years ago for maps that haven't been built yet still memorized...this is why I never have mapper's block. Anytime I sit at the editor I have something to make, weather it be new or 5 years old. 0 Share this post Link to post
Xanthier Posted July 14, 2005 Use3D said:Many old maps from megawad (1999 and before) were all done on paper. But I'm able to imagine an entire layout and keep most of the important parts/details retained for many, many moons. Kinda like a drawing but only in me noggin'. I have layouts that I planned years ago for maps that haven't been built yet still memorized...this is why I never have mapper's block. Anytime I sit at the editor I have something to make, weather it be new or 5 years old. You my friend, are gifted. 0 Share this post Link to post
Nmn Posted July 14, 2005 Lots of drawing, lots of concept art, lots of scrapping, lots of writing. Always :) 0 Share this post Link to post
Sporku Posted July 14, 2005 I just make whatever plops in my head. It seems to work quite well. In fact, 99.5% of the maps I've made were done that way! 0 Share this post Link to post
jerkboy69 Posted July 14, 2005 I do as little as possible. What wit the amount of actual methodology I put into my work, I need all the help I can to actually keep it fresh, I guess. This is, of course, just paranoia, but there is a very real danger of things becoming stale through over-planning, like many a WAD which has been ruined from far too tough a section, where a good puzzle or enemy encounter has been "over-produced", due to constant attention from mappers who are used to it, and forget how good it is. Keep it spontaneous. ;) 0 Share this post Link to post
DOOM Anomaly Posted July 14, 2005 For some maps I draw them out on paper a few times. One time in a big plain layout, another with details of items and triggers and such. Then I map it out according to the drawing, changing things as I see fit. For other maps I just think about them, then map them slowly. Carefully looking at it and thinking if it fits my desire. :D Unfortuately all the planning doesn't yield very great results. :D 0 Share this post Link to post
Lizardcommando Posted July 14, 2005 For enemy sprites, I usually draw concept sketches. For guns, I usually make it up in my head in terms of what they do and how they look like in game. I sometimes make concept sketches for guns, but not often though. For maps, I make it up in my head and keep a mental picture of what the level looks like. 0 Share this post Link to post
wildweasel Posted July 14, 2005 My mapping is usually done on the spot, based on whatever textures I have available to me. That being said, I have a hard time picking texture packs. 0 Share this post Link to post
Vile1011 Posted July 15, 2005 I tried mapping on paper first, but it never works. I need something I can mold: whenever I try to draw a map on paper I just wind up erasing it 50 times. My current project is being built around encounters. I think up the types of battles I want and the type of architecture that would most befit them. I play maps out in my head long before I ever start up an editor. The detailing I do on the fly. 0 Share this post Link to post
Pure Hellspawn Posted July 15, 2005 I wonder if the Ultimate Doomer planned his Super Sonic Wad. That wad is on my top five when it comes to favorite wads. 0 Share this post Link to post
Scuba Steve Posted July 15, 2005 I used to keep a notebook next to my bed and write down any ideas that came to me. I'd sketch out large map areas or unique ideas to implement as scripted events. I work by thinking what I want, then finding out if it's possible in Doom. At night I would sketch ideas while watching movies, shows or playing games thinking "Yeah A giant organic wall with a giant imp head. Oh and it shoots Fetal Imps" or watching the Thing and thinking "I need a head with tentacles." 0 Share this post Link to post
Foofoo Posted July 15, 2005 and ripping off contra and metal slug and stuff right? :p *hugs action doom* 0 Share this post Link to post
Bashe Posted July 15, 2005 My wads are never usually elaborate (either sound or graphics wads) but when I'm planning to do a decorate weapon. Usually I just think of the frames and sounds and stuff in my head and see if I can find those sounds to use. 0 Share this post Link to post
TwinBeast Posted July 15, 2005 I don't usually plan my maps before I do them, at least not too much before, because if I do that and can't start mapping, I'll just get annoyed. But I don't really know about that, because I don't do that. I always plan them on the fly. At the moment I have planned to have some big city map with lots of advertisements. Monsters and weapons I plan usually much earlier than maps. In my biking trip I planned a new monster, some low level human criminal. I planned it will have some light brown shirt and grey pants and a woolly hat. Instead of a woolly hat, I made him have a sun/fishing hat. But everything else in it looks just like I had planned. Sounds I always make after I have done a map, monster or a weapon. When I'm doing the map, I think what kind of sounds the place makes and then I make that kind of sounds. Same thing with monsters and weapons. While doing them, I think how they will sound. 0 Share this post Link to post
Negatronica Posted July 15, 2005 I never plan. Sometimes I might have a vague mental image of one aspect I want to implement, then I just start creating things that complement that idea. A good example is that I wanted to add some insects flying around to add ambience to a map. Once I made them I messed around with different themes till I created a dark swampish setting, with custom made dead trees everywhere. Same holds true with music, I just start messing around and once I create something that sounds cool I just add other things to complement it. Also, sometimes I'll make a MIDI and then make a level that fits the music or vice versa. 0 Share this post Link to post
TheDarkArchon Posted July 15, 2005 I just make things up as I go along, though I had made a rough sequence of events for my current map (Demonic Mines, yes, I know the name sucks) 0 Share this post Link to post
myk Posted July 15, 2005 I use a lot of planning for the general design aspects, and can spend a lot of time coming up with general layout and texturing ideas for a map, or other game concepts, so I keep a text file with notes on things to do or info on things to keep track of. Though map editing itself is a more practical matter and takes place mostly in the map editor. But also, I spend a lot of time playing other wads (or just the plain game) or watching demos where part of my observations are in relation to editing and my wad. 0 Share this post Link to post
DooMBoy Posted July 15, 2005 For every map I ever made I've either made up everything in the editor as I mapped, or got ideas by looking at other maps when I was stumped, or a little or both. Sometimes it's been the latter more the former I regret to say. Works for me. 0 Share this post Link to post
Pure Hellspawn Posted July 16, 2005 Even shitty maps have planning. Just look at mine. It sucks shit and I spend a little time planning on it. Of course, 0 Share this post Link to post
Doom Marine Posted July 16, 2005 Pencil and paper, a theme, plan the fights and routes, then I start mapping. 0 Share this post Link to post
Ed Posted July 16, 2005 A level is inspired by music, just as I try to make music inspired by a place. I make a list of certain songs with the general atmosphere I'm trying to transcribe into the map itself.. if I can remember correctly: Sin City: old Misfits, Obituary, Celtic Frost Sin City 2: I remember I listened to NIN exclusively durring the entire build of this wad, infact, the original .mids were that of NIN. I thought, in the end, people would get bored with hearing every song from the pit of 94'.. 0 Share this post Link to post
kristus Posted July 16, 2005 likewise, music is what fuels my inspiration. For instance, Fanatics album Limits, was the sole contributor to the idea of Phobia popping into my head. 0 Share this post Link to post
Ismaele Posted July 19, 2005 I haven't ever planned my levels and I think I won't every plan any level! ;) I just sit in front of my computer and let my imagination run... so that I can immediately put my ideas on the monitor of my computer, led by the "Doom muse"... ;) ...and my inspiration. As for the latter, I take inspiration both from other "Doom (2)" levels and from reality, as well as my fancy, as I wrote above. Just sometimes I plan something... but in my mind! ;) Sometimes great ideas emerge in my mind, so I remember them and I put them in a .WAD, when I have the occasion. 0 Share this post Link to post
Pure Hellspawn Posted July 19, 2005 now that I am making a ZDoom wad using DECORATE (monster resource wad) and ACS (scripting) i can tell you that the answer is some in my case. 0 Share this post Link to post